


Supernatural 4.02 review

by yourlibrarian



Series: Supernatural Reviews [21]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Episode Review, Episode: s04e02 Are You There God? It's Me Dean Winchester, Gen, Nonfiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-27 22:20:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30129687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourlibrarian/pseuds/yourlibrarian
Summary: Originally posted September 27, 2008.
Series: Supernatural Reviews [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2202249
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1
Collections: March Meta Matters Challenge





	Supernatural 4.02 review

Two charged episodes in a row, I am stoked! I was particularly pleased by the surprises the episode had in store, and I don't just mean some of the familiar faces from S1 and S2 that popped up.

For example, we open with what looks like the victim of the week setting up the MotW. And she is and the scene does. But it was great to see a female hunter for once. She seemed intriguing, though I don't understand why she didn't make a salt ring around herself instead of the opening between the rooms. I'm going to assume though that it all happened so quick and she was just as rattled as Bobby and the Winchesters from seeing the victims return. I would have liked to have seen more of her, but we only heard (or briefly saw) the other hunter victims so I won't complain.

One thing that's pretty interesting about all of this is how many hunters there are around with (at least semi-)permanent homes and how connected Bobby is. He knows at least 4-5 people within driving distance of his place (and in SD, everything is pretty remote) not to mention any other place (Pamela last week). Though it sounds later, when Sam and Bobby are talking, that Sam knew who Olivia was, I think it's more that Sam remembers Bobby talking about her. I remember having a conversation with someone this summer about the demise of the Roadhouse and the success/failure of the concept. Personally I never had a problem with the idea. Even John Winchester and his various contacts (that Dean, at least, was pretty familiar with) showed that hunters did not move around in isolation. Rather, it's Sam and Dean who seem removed from hunter circles. And the more I think of it, the more I wonder if that wasn't intentional rather than just an effect of the show revealing information slowly. 

We know that John kept Sam ignorant of hunting even though Dean was in the know from a young age. And I wonder if part of that wasn't just keeping Sam safe from what John hunted, but also safe from other hunters. I'm guessing that even if John didn't know what had killed Mary until some time after he'd been hunting, that he knew pretty early on that something was different about Sam and that he was at the center of it all. Gordon knew of John, and it would seem certain that John would know of hunters like Gordon. Dean himself was pretty black and white about everything supernatural, and from the start was creeped out by Sam's abilities. I'm thinking that Sam going off alone to school wasn't a problem because John wanted them hunting together, but rather because Sam was vulnerable to other people stumbling on the same information John was tracking. If I remember right, we never hear that Sam's been on a hunt prior to Dean meeting him in Stanford. Sure he knew about hunting, could protect himself, certainly knew how to do research. I wonder though how much John actually wanted him in the hunting world either, rather than at some home base while he and Dean were out in the field. It would certainly go a long way towards explaining why Dean felt Sam was "doted on" whereas he was simply one of his father's weapons.

In any case, Bobby's house seems as much hunter-central as the Roadhouse ever was, minus the extras on camera and (after last week) with just as much booze. It's as much of a home base as Sam and Dean ever have, at least as adults, and Bobby is a one man research database/address book. His house is apparently as flexible as Bobby, since it now also has quite the basement. I'm wondering if we aren't going to see more of the house this season as a way of saving money on set-building. Fewer location shoots would also likely be cheaper.

Some of that money seems to be going into music for the openers. Granted with all the old faces popping up for this episode there was a need for a variety of clips, but some of them were in there for no particular reason I could see. It just seemed they wanted to use more of the song. And given its appearance two weeks in a row they seem to quite like that changeling "child" going up in flames.

One of the things I liked about this episode is that I think it created a good mix of suspense, action and exposition. After last week's reveal there was certainly a need for it, and we got a good bit more detail on where the season is headed. But unlike, say, Sin City which laid out a lot of interesting stuff but was an episode targeted more at meta writers than casual viewers, this one snuck in a lot of discussion with lots of guns going off and ghosts appearing.

So it's only a day later (pretty short time for them to be hotfooting it from Illinois back to SD) and we have a discussion between Sam and Dean where we find out that no, Sam has not lost his faith since Houses of the Holy, despite his increasing moral ambivalence. And we see that Dean is creeped out and upset about being targeted by what might be an angel. It's an interesting reversal on what Sam has been feeling for several seasons. In fact, for Sam it's been much worse. Not only have his abilities been characterized as, if not evil, at least disturbing and to be wished away, but he also knows that he was the reason all the people around him were targeted for destruction. Now we suddenly have Dean rescued from hell by an agent of God, and apparently special enough to be required for important work. It would be pretty understandable if Sam suddenly felt he had gotten the very short straw in the Winchester lottery, but he's apparently happy enough that Dean is back and concerned enough about what it all means that he's not feeling any sibling jealousy. Instead he seems pretty happy about having his faith validated. I suspect part of this is because he hasn't thought the issue through yet, and part of it may be that he feels he can't be so evil if his brother is some kind of chosen person.

I am amused by Dean talking about being "groped" by an angel and saying he wants less "fairy dust" in the theory, given the general fan reaction to Castiel's experience (methinks Sera Gamble had every belief in the pair's slashy future). I was also somewhat amused to the callback to Kids when Dean talks about not wanting to be singled out at birthday parties (though it never made sense to me that Dean would feel anything but validated by the admiring attention of multiple women, given how much he makes of his own looks). Although Sam's advice to him to "strap on your party hat" made me think more of the Ghostfacers episode.

Of course the whole pie bit was wonderful, both as Dean's reaction to research, and a running gag that Sam actually did forget it after his run-in with Ruby. Though it does beg the question why Dean told Sam to let him drive if he was about to stuff his mouth with pie. What was also a nice touch was the "When have I ever forgotten the pie?" Not only is it a callback to Sam's kidnapping (and he promptly runs into Ruby who is, as much as anyone, a representative of Azazel's) but it again pings the idea of Sam not being quite the same Sam we've known since their time apart –- a counterpoint to Dean's "What don't I know about that boy?"

The meeting with Ruby is less than informative, but perhaps an explanation for why we won't be seeing her for a while. I also assume that it's been more than a few days since the diner demons' run in with Castiel, and therefore all the demons have heard about what's going on. Of course, if, as Castiel told Dean, there have been angels fighting battles in all sorts of places, then it makes sense that Ruby and most other demons would know. Her warning to Sam to watch himself and his blithe "I'm not afraid of angels" makes me suspect that Sam is, indeed, as yet unconcerned about this new development and may even think it's an answer to past prayers. We know so little about Sam's feelings in this area that there's no telling what it is he may have prayed for in years past. I assume Ruby's appearance is also so that Meg can later stab Sam's conscience about how he let Ruby simply walk away.

Going back to Olivia I quite liked the set dressing. This appears to be her home and it's very utilitarian. There are some pictures on the wall, and she has fewer books than Bobby (then again, who doesn't). But what I found intriguing is the starkness of her sleep area and the messiness of the living space, as if she has nothing but her work in her life. It's interesting that Bobby was trying to get in touch with her regarding the angel development. It makes me wonder what she'd have known and why. I'm also a bit baffled by the placement of the EMF meter. If it had been found on, say, the bed, it would have been more obvious she had it out and in use than sitting amongst her weapons. Also a bit odd was Dean's response to Bobby, "Good, we could use their help" and Bobby's immediate call to others. Perhaps since the demon fight started it's become more common to check on other hunters when an attack has occurred. But a hunter being attacked by what seems to be a spirit sounds awfully run of the mill, even if the remains are unusual. Given what Sam, Dean and Bobby have already dealt with on their own, the idea of having to call in reinforcements for this –- so quickly -- seems a bit strange (and in the whole series we've never seen Sam and Dean call in anyone but Bobby or Ellen for help). I'm again going to chalk this up to being more in the way that Bobby works than in the way the Winchesters do. Of course we later have Dean's message saying that they think that something's happening to hunters, specifically, though I am still mystified by why they'd jump to that conclusion. I'm going to suppose that it has to do with Olivia's skills and specialties.

I also had to marvel at Dean's ability to sleep with his head hanging out of an open window in the car. You'd think fresh cold air whipping around a person's head would keep them awake. I half wondered if this wasn't a bit dedicated to JA's apparent ability to sleep through anything. I was a bit puzzled by Sam's behavior. He was looking around furtively and I figured he was keeping an eye out for anything that might be tracking them given their "targeted hunters" hypothesis. But then he goes into the restroom and leaves Dean asleep and vulnerable in an open car. Huh? Good thing Dean can sleep through anything but the psychic sense that Sam is in trouble. I'm also a bit puzzled by the time it took for Sam and Dean to reach Bobby's house again. When they leave the gas station it's dark. They've clearly been driving for a while because when they leave Jed's house, Dean is driving, when they reach the gas station Sam is and Dean's asleep, and when they reach Bobby's house it's day again (and wasn't that daylight shot of the Impala reused from S1?). Bobby was on his way home when they spoke on the phone. But it's still night when Bobby is attacked, and we know spirits are strongest at night. Why would Bobby go outside? Why not go immediately to his panic room (and he has the nerve to call Sam the idjit)? Because he must have been fighting off the girl ghosts for hours by the time Sam and Dean get there. I can only assume these ghosts wanted to toy with him rather than kill him, because they would have had more than enough time to do so, and there'd be no reason to keep him silent in the car. Plus he still had an iron bar with him for defense so he must have simply been exhausted until Sam showed up.

Which brings me to a real point of delight in this episode. There were two things that seemed to be lifted straight from fan discussions here. The first is Dean telling Bobby how awesome he is. The second is the underlying theme that the Winchesters have been fairly callous in the way they have dealt with possessed people and accomplices as if their goals were the only ones of any importance. This was something that not only bothered me last season in particular, but which I thought said something about the characters themselves. And the writers found a perfect way here to hang a lantern on this issue without necessarily exploring it in detail, or really confronting it in any way. We have Bobby to explain away the spirits' anger as being something they're forced into displaying, and they're (presumably as sensible as) rabid dogs. But we get more from Henriksen and Meg about all the things they've suffered that we didn't know about or see. They were people, not just objects in the Winchesters' lives. As much as I loved seeing Victor and Ron again, I almost think other characters would have been better choices. Ron got only a brief mourning but his loss was clearly felt, as was Victor's. (Also, Ron really shouldn't have been in this episode because his death was not a supernatural one). It would have been interesting to see, say, Sarge from Croatoan, or even Ash, who was pretty briefly mourned for someone they'd dealt with so often. I guess though that we got people who had died in each of the 3 seasons, and for obvious reasons the YED kids would have been more problematic in this storyline. It would have been a great twist to see Steve Wandell return, except that unfortunately no one would have recognized him and that appearance would take too much explaining for the casual viewer.

But anyhow, Victor's revelation was certainly horrifying, although interesting in a way. Despite having gotten on the Winchesters' side rather quickly I think it would still have been quite a shock for Henriksen to learn first-hand just how horrifying the things they had hunted were. A lot of that anger at Dean would most likely have been first channeled against himself as he was unable to help Nancy, and then at the fact that, as he told Dean, he'd spent so much of his life hunting the wrong things. I had some quibbles about Meg though. Why would she have been dressed in a grimy outfit when it wasn't what she died in (and it hadn't been grimy anyway)? Also, what's with saying Meg had dressed like a slut? I'm not remembering anything all that unusual about her clothing choices. It must have been an odd challenge for Nicky Aycox to have to produce a woman that was angry and yet not demonic, someone different from Meg-the-demon, someone who Sam and Dean had never actually met.

I wondered, from Meg's speech to Dean about her little sister, if we're supposed to contrast her sister being "lost" and committing suicide to Sam's not being lost, and going on after Dean's death. Is it supposed to tell us what we've yet to see about Sam's time alone, or is it supposed to spread doubt in Dean's mind that Sam never really missed him? Especially the line about the body lying in the morgue, beat up, broken –- are we supposed to picture Sam burying Dean's savaged body? Meg walking underneath a trap was a nice callback. Although given the state of the room Dean had crawled into and the borderline disrepair of Bobby's house, it's surprising he doesn't have wards painted all over the place. Speaking of marks though, Sam must have a near photographic memory to have been so sure of the detail from a brief glimpse of Henriksen's hand when he was being tossed around the bathroom. That would certainly explain his abilities in school. Dean also has great vision to be able to recognize that drawing from that far away. I guess that explains his marksmanship.

The dialogue in the panic room scene was crisp and well paced. I guess from the poster we've got a pretty good idea how long the room's been around, which leads me to wonder why Sam and Dean never knew about it before. You'd think if they actually had spent long periods in Bobby's house during their early years that they'd have discovered it. Between that and Sam not knowing where the linen closet was though, I'm guessing they didn't. Why haven't hunters invented salt vests (or in Bobby's case, a salt-brimmed hat?) Presumably ghosts couldn't get through salt-filled clothing that wrapped around the body, right? It would be more useful to hunters than Kevlar and certainly cheaper. 

I also wondered about two things. First, how would Lilith (or whoever) raising these spirits know which ones would most affect the victims? Second, did I imagine it or did Sam and Dean have somewhat different reactions to hearing that the apocalypse was at hand? And I don't mean Dean's reveal that they haven't been to the Grand Canyon yet, that he apparently watches Star Trek (my guess is he identified with Scotty and Kirk) and that he's hypocritical enough to suggest to the hooker in Sin City that he's never employed one, yet he wants to go to the Bunny Ranch and he mentioned having a Thai massage in Red Skies. I loved Bobby's line "you thought our luck was going to start now?"

The scene with the ritual was wonderfully edited, giving a real sense of urgency and action without seeming repetitive and anticlimactic. A video game of a Winchester shooting gallery would be a logical outgrowth of this scene. Meg and Sam's confrontation was great, from both ends. You could really see Sam's emotions flitting through his face as he listens to her. The way he shoots her at the end though reminded me of his execution of the Crossroads Demon. It also begs the question how much Sam's been doing with Ruby that he feels guilty about. The way Sam saves Dean from Henriksen is a nice turnaround from the bathroom scene. Also interesting is the way Dean's guilt figures in all this. Sam and Bobby feel it too, of course, but this really plays on Dean's own feeling of responsibility towards others (how could God do nothing?) and his inability to answer Henriksen's question about why he should get all these second chances. It did make me think of Faith, when Dean was told he had important things to do yet. Would he have been raised by an angel then, had he not been saved by a Reaper? What about in IMToD? I'm also thinking of Bloody Mary. Dean felt guilty then for someone's death. We still don't know who it was or why that person didn't appear here.

We also don't know why Bobby doesn't appear to have any beds in his house. Presumably he's upstairs sleeping in his, but you'd think that couch would be way too small for Sam, who'd be better off on the floor. Yet another strike against the idea of long-term visitors. The final scene with Dean and Castiel's conversation provided the last bit of exposition, with Dean getting some of his answers, and the audience finding out where things are headed. It could have been dull but I think had plenty of humor and Dean-attitude throughout, keeping things interesting. I wondered if Castiel isn't wearing out his host body. Even in the dim light he looked rather drawn and his lips chapped, as if either he doesn't know what to do to maintain one (which would certainly make sense) or the act of hosting him is aging the body rapidly.

I liked the way that both actors conveyed well the menace that has Dean taking a figurative step back at the end, even though in terms of the dialogue this could have come off as cliché or overdone. I also found it funny that Sam puts on layers when getting up and takes them off to sleep. You'd think he'd be hotter up moving around. I am also confused about the layout of Bobby's house. The study we see in this and the previous episode opens to the kitchen straight ahead, to the right of which is the back door (and the back door does have a screen hanging to the back of it, explaining what I saw last week). To the right it opens onto the stairway upstairs. But in our first view of Bobby's house in S1, the back door opens onto a bare room with a desk and books, not straight into the kitchen.

What it seems is that they've redressed the original set. The windows seen in the "study" are now seen in the kitchen, which as before opens with sliding doors into the room with the fireplace to one side and leads to the back door on the other. The room has no sofa under the windows, though, just more books, and no desk in front of the fireplace. There still seems to be a doorway to the right, though we don't see what's there. That Bobby might have moved stuff around after all the crap that's gone on in his house doesn't surprise me. But no one moves their kitchen. Maybe that explains why he's had such a rough time -- kitchen contractors will do that to anyone!

Next week looks like it'll be another episode with more explanations, which makes me happy. It looks like they're on a good streak so far this season.


End file.
